Lisa Megaris, one of the owners of the Sunset Diner, is grateful to be able to operate her Ocean Township business in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. / TOM SPADER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Waitress Melek Kandirali of the Sunset Diner works the counter of the Ocean Township restaurant in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

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The Megaris family, the owners of Sunset Diner in Ocean Township, couldn’t have been in much of a mood to work. They lost a week of business due to Sandy. They had to restock their supplies. Their restaurant was broken into, the good-luck dollars taken from the mirror behind the register.

But by 5 p.m. last Friday, the power was back, the diner was clean and any second thoughts they had quickly faded.

“They’re telling us to be open,” Lisa Megaris said of her customers. “That makes it worthwhile, to keep going and going and going.”

Small businesses up and down the Shore have scrambled to their feet to become gathering points for shaken communities.

Some have power, others are getting by with generators. Some are reaping windfalls, others are taking financial hits. But they are drumming up goodwill by providing a place where people can gather and, at least temporarily, feel normal.

The altruism isn’t confined to small businesses. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey said it donated $1 million to disaster relief and deployed a van to provide warmth to cleanup crews and and first responders in Ocean County. JP Morgan said it would waive its fees on a $2.6 billion bond sale to help New Jersey close a budget gap. And Wakefern Food Corp., a cooperative of Shop-Rite owners, said it would donate $1 million in money and donations for disaster relief.

But the sacrifice of mom-and-pop stores who might not have deep pockets is worth noting.

“It’s much more difficult for a small business to do given their (profit) margins than a big business, yet it sends a much more impactful message: ‘Hey we’re hurting just as much as you are, but we want to help,’ ” said John Buzza, a business professor at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.

Customers sounded like they wouldn’t soon forget the kind deeds.

Grayce Freeman, 32, a school bus driver from Neptune, found her way to the Sunset Diner on Wednesday. She hasn’t worked since Sandy barreled through the Shore. And her home has been without power, leaving it so cold she said she could see her breath.

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So she has stopped by the diner several times for coffee, food and warmth, she said.

“It was so wonderful,” Freeman said. “It’s really nice to be able to come here and have some place reliable.”

Reliability in the wake of Sandy is hard to find, providing a chance for businesses to serve as a reminder that all is not lost after all.

For businesses, it has taken a mix of luck that they didn’t suffer worse damage and skill that they can operate without, say, the normal contingent of employees or power.

But there is no shortage of examples:

• In Toms River, Buccio’s Gourmet Bistro, with the help of a generator last week, served coffee and sandwiches to a neighborhood that includes Community Medical Center, said Nicole Tassinaro, the restaurant’s marketing director.

Buccio’s donated some food and lowered prices on others – so much that it applied for aid from FEMA. Power returned on Monday. But for Tassinaro, the restaurant provided an outlet for her to give back; her Brick home survived the storm unscathed, while nearby homes were hit hard.

“In a way, I felt guilty,” she said “I’m spending time at the restaurant, going to the shelter, volunteering in other ways since I had been so fortunate.”

• Booskerdoo Fresh Roasted Coffee Co. survived the storm with only four inches of water on the floor of its store in Monmouth Beach, which was battered so badly that even by Wednesday residents were the only ones allowed in the town, owner James Caverly said.

The roaster set up a cart last Friday on Beach Road and handed out free coffee. It opened its shop on Saturday with the help of a generator. And lines were long, even though its baker in Point Pleasant was out of power and its espresso machine needed more power than it had, Caverly said.

“They got their mind off the situation and could talk about what was going on,” Caverly said. “Really, (it provided) just a sense of normalcy for a little while.”

• In Ocean Grove, Barbaric Bean, another coffee roaster, opened soon after Sandy blew through, and it became a gathering spot, owner Joe Parrillo said.

Not that it was easy. He boiled water, ground coffee beans in what looked like an antique grinder, and plunged the coffee in a French press to serve.

“We didn’t make a lot of money, but the morale, the appreciation of people who were cold and just wanted coffee, (a place) for people to huddle and exchange stories, was important,” Parrillo said.